Dan didn’t write a thing for the Commons, and he and I didn’t agree at all politically. What he did do was help me, like he helped hundreds of other people, improve my web design and HTML/CSS coding skills, often at length and with no expectation of recompense. I’m a fairly good amateur Web designer, and am now polishing and broadening my skills by designing sites for a number of non-profit organizations for free (I’ll post the links if anyone’s interested).

And like so many friendships nowadays, ours was entirely Internet-based. We never laid eyes on one another. But he had a strong impact on my life, and I hope I had some meaning to his.

Dan’s willingness to spend inordinate amounts of his time and expertise to help others, with no expectation of return, makes him an exemplar of the Commons mentality that we hold in such high regard here at HC.